Past and Present

Chapter 4- Never

It has been almost a year and Xue Yang was taken in to the Jin Clan by Meng Yao, who was the new leader. He was thriving and living his best life there, until Meng Yao confronted him.
"Xue Yang, you aren't able to fix the Stygian Tiger Amulet are you?" He asked.
"I can! I just need more time," Xue Yang said.
"How much more time do you need? It's been almost a year!" Meng Yao exclaimed.
"Those types of things take a long time, just be patient," Xue Yang said.
"Wei Wuxian was able to make it in three months," Meng Yao pointed out, "with almost nothing but energy."
"I'm not him alright? I wish people would stop comparing us two," Xue Yang groaned.
"I don't care, if you don't get that amulet fixed in the next hour, I'm kicking you out."
     "Fine," Xue Yang sighed. He walked to the room where the Stygian Tiger Amulet was and took it in his hands. He used everything he could to fix it but in the end only fixed half of it.
    "Still haven't fixed it?" Meng Yao asked, walking into the room.
     "I did half," Xue Yang said proudly.
      "That's it? You couldn't do more?" Meng Yao snapped.
      "Well, I could but I was tired," Xue Yang said, "I used a lot of my energy to fix just half."
      "Get out," Meng Yao said.
      "What?"
      "I said, get out," Meng Yao repeated.
       "You're really kicking me out after fixing half of the Stygian Tiger Amulet?" Xue Yang chuckled, "Pathetic." He looked at the rock and tossed it around, "Then you won't mind if I take it with me."
     With those words he ran out of the room with multiple disciples following him. He ran into the trees and stopped when one of them appeared in front of him, he was surrounded.
     He drew his sword and began fighting with all of them. He never had a teacher to teach him how to fight a specific way, so he mainly made up the moves as he went.
   The disciples, however, knew where the key points were. And they knew how to get to them, with their speed and strength.
    They all fought and in the end Xue Yang was left with a dislocated leg, a stab wound on the stomach, and a couple if scratches on his arms and face. The others were in much worse shape, some even dead.
     Xue Yang was running away from the group and went on for days. He finally arrived to an empty road where he fell down, exhausted. He saw a young girl skipping towards him and reached a hand out, "Help..." he whispered.
    His head fell to the ground and his consciousness slipped away.
    The girl had seen him and jumped away with a yelp. "What's the matter?" A man in white asked her.
    "N-nothing, I just...sprained my ankle," she lied.
    "Oh, do you want me to carry you?" The man asked.
     "Yes please!" The man bent down with a smile but stiffened.
     "I smell blood," he said before putting the girl down and walked to the smell. He felt his foot bump into something, "There is someone injured here." He bent down and felt the person lying on the floor.
     He picked the person up and took him to the nearest town, Coffin Town. He sat him down near a coffin and turned to the girl, "A-Qing, can you find anything useful?"
    The girl looked around, "There's a basin!"
     "Get it and fill it up with boiling water," he ordered. The girl rushed away with the basin and filled it up with water before returning with it and a few pieces of cloth.
     The man took the objects and began cleaning the person if any blood and dirt.
    The person, Xue Yang, twitched at the feeling and woke up. His eyes widened when he saw the man in front of him and scrambled back, "You-!" He stopped when he heard his own voice.
     The man smiled, "Do not worry. I have taken you out of the wild and have no intention of hurting you."
      Xue Yang looked at the man with sorrowful eyes, it was Xingchen. But he couldn't let the man know that he knew him, "Who are you?"
     The girl, a-Qing, huffed, "Can't you see? He is a wandering cultivator. He just saved your life and you're being hostile to him?"
    "You're...you're blind?" Xue Yang whispered.
     "Yes," she said, "do you have a problem with the blind? You were saved by the blind!" 
When did I say I had a problem with the blind? Xue Yang thought bitterly.
    Xingchen turned to him, "Don't lean on that, or you'll injure yourself again." Xue Yang moved his arm down from his leg and let Xingchen clean the blood from his leg.
    Everything was going smoothly when Xingchen's arm got close to the man's hand. Xue Yang flinched and retreated his arm, "What's wrong?" Xingchen asked, "Did I hurt you?"
    "No," Xue Yang said softly, "I just...accidentally touched my wound."
    "Okay," Xingchen nodded slowly and continued cleaning the wound.
    "Why aren't you asking who I am and how I was wounded like this?" Xue Yang asked curiously.
    Xingchen smiled softly, "If you do not tell me, then I do not have to ask. We met by chance, I am only lending a hand. It's no trouble for me, once you recover, we shall depart. If it were me, I have something I don't want to he asked about."
    Xue Yang looked up at the man and nodded, he knew what it was, "Thank you for saving my life then."
    They finished and Xingchen let a-Qing sleep in an empty coffin while he and Xue Yang slept on the floor. Xue Yang, however, wasn't asleep.
    He was wide awake, staring at Xingchen's sleeping face. He couldn't believe that the man had gone blind, in fact he was devastated. Xingchen's eyes were one of his favorite features, they were always so delicate and sweet.
    They shone in the darkness and were bright and lively. Xue Yang missed them, and now he could never see them again, never.